diff --git a/iocore/net/AsyncSignalEventIO.cc b/iocore/net/AsyncSignalEventIO.cc
index f6f615456cc..0a3483fb05b 100644
--- a/iocore/net/AsyncSignalEventIO.cc
+++ b/iocore/net/AsyncSignalEventIO.cc
@@ -35,11 +35,14 @@ AsyncSignalEventIO::start(EventLoop l, int fd, int events)
 void
 AsyncSignalEventIO::process_event(int flags)
 {
+  [[maybe_unused]] ssize_t ret;
 #if HAVE_EVENTFD
   uint64_t counter;
-  static_cast<void>(read(_fd, &counter, sizeof(uint64_t)));
+  ret = read(_fd, &counter, sizeof(uint64_t));
+  ink_assert(ret >= 0);
 #else
   char dummy[1024];
-  static_cast<void>(read(_fd, &dummy[0], 1024));
+  ret = read(_fd, &dummy[0], 1024);
+  ink_assert(ret >= 0);
 #endif
 }